It’s well known that you have to dig deep to enter London’s property market, but this lot that sold at auction on Tuesday demands actual spadework.
Marketed as “a vacant front basement suitable for redevelopment”, this was one for investors willing to take a risk on getting the right planning consents. Prospective buyers were told, “There will be no internal viewings due to lack of access (excavation required)”.
The leasehold for the basement space below flats in New Eltham, south London, was up for sale with the Auction House at a guide price of £25,000. Bidding reached £27,000 before the hammer came down. The lot was sold by the freeholder of the property.

A piece of land below a mansion block of flats in central London has sold at auction for £150,000.
The land, in Bloomsbury, has potential for excavation to become a basement.
If work goes ahead, just how delighted this would make the flat dwellers in the nine storeys above is not clear.